The question asked is how does the reader not reduce the contents of pages 179 to 182 into nothing more than a melodrama? I would ask, with multiple variances on two or three different themes working themselves through these pages, why would one reduce the contents at all? To reduce something in literature is to bring something to its most simplistic element and in that attempt, lose something larger in context. Corrine begins the page by stating, “There are only two distinct classes of men on earth, those have strong feelings and those who despise them” (179). The sentence plays directly into the tension that exists between Corrine and Oswald, it is “the tension” that I believe she is trying to ease “with in” Oswald and his conflicted but non-evolving view on duty and service to religion. In short, it is Oswald’s Protestant upbringing that confines his emotions to not only a religious world but apparently to the world outside of religion as well. It is his upbringing that enhances his feeling of melancholy, a feeling that pervades his life especially after his father’s death. (One could make the argument that his feeling of melancholy is only amplified by his belief in Protestantism and it may have more to do with his belief system than it has to do with his father’s death.) The narration of the following pages refers to the notion “strong feelings” as it has to deal with religion. Strong feeling that would not be suitable for someone of Corrine’s nature in Protestant England. Thus, though we are looking at these pages separately, we cannot forget the context in which Stael places on these subjects in the larger work at hand. Corrine continues later on in the page, to state, “I love the glittering homage rendered by men to what promises them neither fortune nor power, to what punishes or rewards them only through a feeling in the heart” (179). I pick this line because it alludes to another central tension between the two characters, the outcome of religious devotion. In stating that homage to God is not a guarantee of neither fortune nor power, she questions the rationale of “homage” to religion in general, especially those that promise reward or power. (This is a direct reference to the notion all good men go to heaven – do they really?) She continues this line of reasoning (and this can be seen in several instances throughout the novel) by stating that the reward of such homage is a “feeling” in the heart. The importance here is the subjective nature of the underlying word feeling. This feeling is not an external element placed with in one’s heart but an internal element that comes about from with-in oneself. The distinction here is key, for the feeling does not come from God but it comes from with-in one’s heart, the house of all feelings in general and this thus leaves God as a half element, whose existence may or may not exist. Though the pages of this text are littered with Corrine’s devotion to a divine power in general, such places of questioning along with other elements in the work, place an argument against Protestantism and Catholicism to a point where one could argue that Corrine is a paganistic text. Coming back to the point at hand, these strong feelings that Corrine speaks to on top of page 179 are a representation of how she views not only religion but “life in general”. Life should be passionate and enthusiastic. By the top of the next page, she has inspired Oswald by “such strong sentiments” that he literally wants to “fall to his knees”. However, just when it seems Oswald is about to break out of his conditioned response to religion and the sentiments that he holds dear, he falls back into his conditioned response, making the reader who resides outside of the novel, question the legitimacy of any transformation that could possibly occur in this man’s soul. . . “Corrine’, he then said, ‘allow your friend still a few more words. His soul is by no means arid. . . If I love reason in religion, that is, if I reject both contradictory dogmas and human means of impressing men, it is because I see the divine in reason as well as in strong feelings” (180). In what is so often done in this text, just when one feels Oswald has understood Corrine and everything she represents (transcendence, evolutionary femininity, passionate emotion, artistic enthusiasm, devotional love among many other abstractions) Oswald brings the reader crashing down to reality over and over again by stating an inherently conditioned response that he apparently cannot escape. “I venture to say that the poetic enthusiasm which makes you so attractive is not the healthiest way of being devout. Corrine, how could this frame of mind prepare us for the innumerable sacrifices duty demands of us?” Oh yes, our lovely Oswald feels everything beautiful Corrine has to say - but understands nothing at the same time. His notions of devoutness, duty are only through sacrifice and sacrifice is the only form to honor God. Everything that she recites on the pages before, that the beauty of religion can be seen in the celebration of building beautiful cathedrals or the joy one can feel in worshipping the plentitudes that God’s has given to us and the joy in celebrating that - is “reduced” hard core passive, guilt ridden duty and sacrifice. . . If there is anyone doing any reducing here – it is not the reader – but the character at hand. The rest of the two pages is a back and forth between Corrine and Oswald about the practices and duties of religion. Every few pages we see a brink of a possible transformation in Oswald from this discourse only to have that moment stolen from us. His duty to the Holy Father that is in Heaven and his literal father, who is in heaven, makes it all the more clear that he may never change. Corrine for her part, though she is called an angel by Oswald, literally has the patience of an angel to deal with Oswald as well. After a discussion on ritual versus imagination, which to a greater extent is the same discussion they have over “how to worship”, the chapter ends with, “When he (the Pope) pronounces the words ‘to the city and to the world’ (urbi et orbi), all the assembled people fall to their knees and, through their emotion at that moment, Corrine and Lord Nelvil felt that all forms of worship are alike. Religious feelings bind men closely together when vanity and fanaticism do not make it an object of jealousy and hatred. Praying together, in whatever language, according to whatever rite, is the most moving fraternity of hope and sympathy that man can develop on this earth” (182). At the end of page 179 it mentions that “Jesus Christ said, “When two or three are gathered together in my name, I shall be in the midst of them”. We see this come true at the end of the chapter but what we do not see, though we have been given it in words, is Oswald’s acceptance of “according to whatever rite”. In closing, I think the narrator sometimes makes assumptions about the character, for whatever reason, that the character never seems to back up himself.
To reduce something in literature is to bring something to its most simplistic element and in that attempt, lose something larger in context. Corrine begins the page by stating, “There are only two distinct classes of men on earth, those have strong feelings and those who despise them” (179). The sentence plays directly into the tension that exists between Corrine and Oswald, it is “the tension” that I believe she is trying to ease “with in” Oswald and his conflicted but non-evolving view on duty and service to religion. In short, it is Oswald’s Protestant upbringing that confines his emotions to not only a religious world but apparently to the world outside of religion as well. It is his upbringing that enhances his feeling of melancholy, a feeling that pervades his life especially after his father’s death. (One could make the argument that his feeling of melancholy is only amplified by his belief in Protestantism and it may have more to do with his belief system than it has to do with his father’s death.) The narration of the following pages refers to the notion “strong feelings” as it has to deal with religion. Strong feeling that would not be suitable for someone of Corrine’s nature in Protestant England. Thus, though we are looking at these pages separately, we cannot forget the context in which Stael places on these subjects in the larger work at hand.
Corrine continues later on in the page, to state, “I love the glittering homage rendered by men to what promises them neither fortune nor power, to what punishes or rewards them only through a feeling in the heart” (179). I pick this line because it alludes to another central tension between the two characters, the outcome of religious devotion. In stating that homage to God is not a guarantee of neither fortune nor power, she questions the rationale of “homage” to religion in general, especially those that promise reward or power. (This is a direct reference to the notion all good men go to heaven – do they really?) She continues this line of reasoning (and this can be seen in several instances throughout the novel) by stating that the reward of such homage is a “feeling” in the heart. The importance here is the subjective nature of the underlying word feeling. This feeling is not an external element placed with in one’s heart but an internal element that comes about from with-in oneself. The distinction here is key, for the feeling does not come from God but it comes from with-in one’s heart, the house of all feelings in general and this thus leaves God as a half element, whose existence may or may not exist. Though the pages of this text are littered with Corrine’s devotion to a divine power in general, such places of questioning along with other elements in the work, place an argument against Protestantism and Catholicism to a point where one could argue that Corrine is a paganistic text.
Coming back to the point at hand, these strong feelings that Corrine speaks to on top of page 179 are a representation of how she views not only religion but “life in general”. Life should be passionate and enthusiastic. By the top of the next page, she has inspired Oswald by “such strong sentiments” that he literally wants to “fall to his knees”. However, just when it seems Oswald is about to break out of his conditioned response to religion and the sentiments that he holds dear, he falls back into his conditioned response, making the reader who resides outside of the novel, question the legitimacy of any transformation that could possibly occur in this man’s soul. . . “Corrine’, he then said, ‘allow your friend still a few more words. His soul is by no means arid. . . If I love reason in religion, that is, if I reject both contradictory dogmas and human means of impressing men, it is because I see the divine in reason as well as in strong feelings” (180). In what is so often done in this text, just when one feels Oswald has understood Corrine and everything she represents (transcendence, evolutionary femininity, passionate emotion, artistic enthusiasm, devotional love among many other abstractions) Oswald brings the reader crashing down to reality over and over again by stating an inherently conditioned response that he apparently cannot escape. “I venture to say that the poetic enthusiasm which makes you so attractive is not the healthiest way of being devout. Corrine, how could this frame of mind prepare us for the innumerable sacrifices duty demands of us?” Oh yes, our lovely Oswald feels everything beautiful Corrine has to say - but understands nothing at the same time. His notions of devoutness, duty are only through sacrifice and sacrifice is the only form to honor God. Everything that she recites on the pages before, that the beauty of religion can be seen in the celebration of building beautiful cathedrals or the joy one can feel in worshipping the plentitudes that God’s has given to us and the joy in celebrating that - is “reduced” hard core passive, guilt ridden duty and sacrifice. . . If there is anyone doing any reducing here – it is not the reader – but the character at hand.
The rest of the two pages is a back and forth between Corrine and Oswald about the practices and duties of religion. Every few pages we see a brink of a possible transformation in Oswald from this discourse only to have that moment stolen from us. His duty to the Holy Father that is in Heaven and his literal father, who is in heaven, makes it all the more clear that he may never change. Corrine for her part, though she is called an angel by Oswald, literally has the patience of an angel to deal with Oswald as well.
After a discussion on ritual versus imagination, which to a greater extent is the same discussion they have over “how to worship”, the chapter ends with, “When he (the Pope) pronounces the words ‘to the city and to the world’ (urbi et orbi), all the assembled people fall to their knees and, through their emotion at that moment, Corrine and Lord Nelvil felt that all forms of worship are alike. Religious feelings bind men closely together when vanity and fanaticism do not make it an object of jealousy and hatred. Praying together, in whatever language, according to whatever rite, is the most moving fraternity of hope and sympathy that man can develop on this earth” (182). At the end of page 179 it mentions that “Jesus Christ said, “When two or three are gathered together in my name, I shall be in the midst of them”. We see this come true at the end of the chapter but what we do not see, though we have been given it in words, is Oswald’s acceptance of “according to whatever rite”.
In closing, I think the narrator sometimes makes assumptions about the character, for whatever reason, that the character never seems to back up himself.